Kindly advise a visit to St. Moritz from Zermatt via Glacier express is a better option in late September. Since I will reach there (St. Moritz) by 3:30 pm and next day early morning back to Zurich for my flight(I have afternoon flight). Is it worth paying a visit to St. Moritz in summers? Or shall I completely skip the idea and stay in Zermatt and explore Brig, Visp and other nearby areas. Or you can advise me better options as I will be in Zermatt (already covering Zurich, Luzern, Interlaken, Montreux, and Zermatt in my earlier part of the trip). I am skeptical about St. Moritz, as I do wish to go there and enjoy the other extreme corner of Switzerland but do I have time-based on above route or any other shortest route available to go to St. Moritz from Zermatt?

>> Kindly advise a visit to St. Moritz from Zermatt via Glacier express is a better option in late September.

A better option than what?

>> Since I will reach there (St. Moritz) by 3:30 pm and next day early morning back to Zurich for my flight(I have afternoon flight).

I can't see any trains in the timetable that arrive in St. Moritz from Zermatt around 3:30 pm. The first Glacier Express of the day arrives at 15:58, having left St. Moritz at 7:52.

>> Is it worth paying a visit to St. Moritz in summers?

That's a personal choice. I would say yes. The Glacier Express is a wonderful train trip in itself, and St. Moritz is a pretty town. It would be even better if you could stay there two nights and spend the intervening day doing a hike or a mountain visit or two. I would rather spend extra time in St. Moritz and less time in Zürich, which is the least interesting place on your itinerary (unless you have a specific reason for having to visit Zürich).

>> Or shall I completely skip the idea and stay in Zermatt and explore Brig, Visp and other nearby areas.

On such a short trip, I would definitely not spend any time exploring Brig or Visp. If you are spending extra time in Zermatt, there is plenty to do there, or you could do a day trip to Saas-Fee.

>> I am skeptical about St. Moritz, as I do wish to go there and enjoy the other extreme corner of Switzerland but do I have time-based on above route or any other shortest route available to go to St. Moritz from Zermatt?

If you are going to St. Moritz from Zermatt, I would not go there by any other route than the Glacier Express, as this is by far the most scenic. It takes about 8 hours. The most time you would save by taking other routes is less than an hour and a half, and the reason for that is that you will spend quite a bit of time in long tunnels. Even when not in tunnels, the scenery cannot match that of the Glacier Express route.

Hi, I took the Glacier Express on the 18th of August. It was an experience but personally i would say its not a good one. Im not discouraging you and it depends on what type of interest you have in mind in taking the GE, i did it to see the landwasser viaduct. And the Albula Line. But with only one day to explore, i believe an excursion via cog wheel train to materhorn (zermatt) is a perfect idea.

@Alpenrose: Yes, I was talking about GE reaching St. Moritz at 15:58, thats why I was wondering will I get time to explore St. Moritz?

@Rockoyester: Lucerne : 3 nights covering Mount Titlis, Pilatus, city walk and If time permits Mt. Rigi or Stanserhorn along with one day to Zurich for The Rhine falls plus (optional) Black forest Germany or Lugano

1 night Montreux: Chillon castle, chocolate factory, lake boat ride. Also, help that shall I stay in Montreux or can take a day trip to Montreux from Interlaken If I extend stay there?

1 night Zermatt: Peak2peak excursion- Matterhorn & Gornergrat

1 night: undecided whether I stay in Zermatt or travel in the morning to St. Moritz or shall I stay altogether somewhere else take a day trip to Zermatt for peak2peak excursion? or stay in Zermatt and visit Saas-fee as suggested by Alpenrose or some other place

@ Glenna: thanks for the feedback, I was skeptical only thinking that I might get bored as its 8 hours journey.

First 7 nights look good but going from Luzern to Rheinfall seems like an unnecessary bit of backtracking. You will easily fill your time in and around Luzern. I wouldn't bother with the Black Forest. It is a nice place to spend a few relaxing days but if you are just passing through then the scenery is nowhere near as good as in many parts of Switzerland.

I don't have any experience of the Montreux side of Switzerland but your last three nights look like you are trying to cram an awful lot in.

If you particularly want to go to Rheinfall why not arrange to get back to Zurich the night before your flight. Zermatt to Zurich via Chur on the Glacier Express (skip St Moritz) is not a bad day trip. Alternative would be Zermatt to Andermatt on Glacier Express then to Göschenen and Flüelen then steamer back to Luzern and on to Zurich. The boat ride from Flüelen to Luzern is great.

If you have you last night in Zurich and get an early start you can easily do a trip to Rheinfall in the morning before your flight.

Thanks a lot to guide me. You get me right, I am being too greedy to cover Switzerland;). Indeed that makes sense to come back to Zurich from Zermatt (I might opt for a direct route as I would be carrying luggage). Also the day at Luzern (that I was supposed to go to Zurich), I can go to Fluelen and come back.

Here's a hint if you do Montreux as a day trip and return to Interlaken and then go from Interlaken to Zermatt another day. If you select the route Interlaken to Zermatt via Kandersteg then you will follow a much more scenic route between Spiez and Brig than the faster route which goes through a long tunnel between Spiez and VIsp.

Also if you go on the Flüelen steamer and catch an early enough departure then you can catch a train from Flüelen back to Arth-Goldhau and do RIgi on the same day. There is a cog-wheel railway from Arth-Goldhau to Rigi Kulm. You can then come down the other side to either Vitznau (cog wheel) or Weggis (cable car) and boat back to Luzern. All free with Swiss Travel Pass.

One more advice please, Shall I visit Lugano, I was just checking: If I take the boat from Lucerne to Flüelen (3 hours) and from there a normal train to Lugano (1 hour) visit and come back by normal route train (2 hours) to Lucerne. If I already cover Mt. Rigi the other day. What do you say? Worth paying a visit to Lugano and Bellinzona? In such a way I can spend a good deal of time there.

You can do a day trip from Luzern to Lugano for sure but unless you want to get back to Luzern real late you won't get more than 4 hours to have a look around. I would say Lugano is somewhere you would want to spend a few days to really experience it. On the other hand if you just want to get a look at the Italian part of Switzerland then go for it.

You can't get from Flüelen to Lugano in 1 hour. Let's say you get the 8:12 ferry (they leave every hour but not all are the historic paddle steamers) from Luzern then you have a choice of an 11:11 or an 11:16 connection from Flüelen to Lugano. They will get you there at 11:17 and 11:48 respectively. The 11:11 goes via the Gotthard Base Tunnel so you spend 60Km of the trip underground. The 11:16 follows the scenic Gotthard Panorama Express route.

You can get the fast, 2 hour, train back from Lugano to Luzern (via Gotthard Base Tunnel).

Bellinzona has some lovely castles but you would need a few hours to do them justice so difficult to fit in with seeing anything of Lugano on the same trip.